Cytokine expression in experimental chronic otitis media with effusion in mice.

Objectives: Although otitis media with effusion (OME) is still a common disease in children and adults, the pathogenesis is not yet fully understood. We studied the effects of intratympanic injection with endotoxin purified from nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae on the characteristics of middle ear effusion (MEE).

Methods: Murine model of OME was developed by eustachian tube (ET) blockage followed by intratympanic inoculation with endotoxin (endotoxin group) or saline (control group).

Intranasal immunization with outer membrane protein P6 and cholera toxin induces specific sinus mucosal immunity and enhances sinus clearance of nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae.

Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is one of the leading pathogens in sinusitis. One of the outer membrane proteins of NTHi, P6, is a common antigen to all strains and is an attractive candidate for a subunit bacterial vaccine. In this study, we characterized normal sinus mucosa (SM) and investigated the potential of intranasal immunization with P6 and cholera toxin (CT) for induction of mucosal protective immunity against NTHi in the maxillary sinuses of rats.

Expression of adhesion molecules by cultured spiral ligament fibrocytes stimulated with proinflammatory cytokines.

Secondary cultures from murine spiral ligament (SL) fibrocytes were stimulated with proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and expression of various adhesion molecules was investigated. Cultures without cytokine stimulation did not show positive immunostaining for vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), or mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 (MAdCAM-1). Although staining was also negative after stimulation with IL-1beta, VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 staining was observed after the cells were stimulated with TNF-alpha.

Single cell analysis of adenoid CD5+ B cells and their protective contributions to nasopharyngeal immunity.

Objectives: CD5+ B cells are phenotypically and functionally distinct from the conventional (CD5-) B cells, and the function of CD5+ B cells in the upper respiratory tract remains unknown. A previous study showed that immunoglobulin A-producing cells in the adenoid play a protective role in the nasopharynx. In the present study, the contribution of adenoid CD5+ B cells to nasopharyngeal immunity at the single cell level was investigated.

Localization of glucocorticoid receptors in the murine inner ear.

We performed an immunohistochemical investigation of the distribution of glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) in the murine inner ear and found that GRs were expressed extensively, but with various degrees of immunoreactivity in different regions. We observed the strongest GR expression in the type III fibrocytes of the spiral ligament. Although the immunoreactivity of the cochlear hair cells and of the vestibular sensory epithelia was weak, the neighboring cochlear supporting cells and the subepithelial regions of the vestibular sensory epithelia were immunostained.